I cannot claim to have a quarks worth of knowledge on the brain and neurophysiology as compared to the majority of people who write about it. The amount of knowledge there is about thinking and what it actually is…well the amount we know is astounding but absolutely nothing compared to what we don’t know. Heck we don’t even know what the word “know” means. So before my head explodes, let me see if I can get some thoughts out. And by the way, if you are predisposed to judging people on what they think they think about thinking and whether we are agents of free will or not…just hold off on the disparaging remarks if you don’t mind. The thoughts here are simply ideas that are out there…not necessarily my intrinsic beliefs. Wow, I just used two words I didn’t even know I knew.
Ok…here goes. Free will is the idea that we are in control of our own actions and our own thoughts. We are in control. We aren’t just watching a movie of our own life but can decide whatever we want.
However, There are certain interesting things going on in the science world as well as the philosophical world that might lead some folks to believe that we have no control over what and how we think. That scares some people a lot. They don’t even like to think about it. If you are one of those, then, you probably ought to go watch my Orangatar video and forget about reading this stuff. However you might want to know that there are potentially future neuromodulation techniques that will enhance the perception we need to feel like we are indeed in control of our own lives whether we actually are or not. So, don’t worry, we can eventually make you think you know what you think whether you really think it or not.
What the heck am I talking about here. Let me give you some examples. Normally people who are right handed seem to choose to use their right hand about 60% of the time. However when the right hemisphere of their brain is stimulated with a TMS device, they choose to move their left hand 80% of the time. But even in doing this they believe they are choosing to make that conscious decision and that nothing is influencing them otherwise. This simply means that conscious decisions can be controlled or changed without us ever realizing we have made different choices and it’s all because of electric stimulation or chemical reaction.
Lets go a bit deeper. Right now you know what you believe about certain things and think that you chose to believe those ideas about life on your own. But as many people have postulated, had you been born in a different part of the world, your major belief system could be totally different. You could have the same parents and siblings but if you grew up in China instead of the US, you would have had totally different influence from your time of birth, and a whole lot of decisions you make would be totally different. Not only that, but you might have a different favorite color, you would not like some of the food you like now and would like some food you detest now. The music you love would be totally different and …hang on…you may even have different parts of your brain being used for your thought processes. Recent studies have shown that there is this thing called neuroculturalism. Eastern humans have different parts of their brain light up on an MRI even when thinking about one’s mother. Asians might see a chaotic image of a city and the part of the brain that is used in developing relationships lights up. When an American sees the same image, the part of the brain that deals with objects lights up. Reasoning for this points to the fact that family and relationships is interwoven into more of the fabric of life than is done here in America.
Let’s go somewhere else. The genes of our ancestors have some interesting stuff in them. Some of that stuff makes the family tree an interesting set of branches and roots. You may be predisposed genetically to have a certain body type, which may make you feel a certain way about your self, which could also be influenced by where you grow up and that geography could actually control your moods and what you decide to eat and when you decide to eat it and how you treat the people around you. Those genes could make you impulsive or complacent, or bad-tempered or altruistic. Wow…does this mean you are gonna be the way you are and there is nothing you can do about it so you might as well go ahead and do whatever you want…or wait…is what you want really what you want or did your culture and your gene pool and the sugar you had this morning make you want what you want.
Do you do everything you do because you want to….and …this is weird but…is your “want” something inside your neuro anatomy that is actually different than what your brain tells you your want is?
Here is a quote that was given to some people just before they were engaged in a scientific experiment.
You, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules. Who you are is nothing but a pack of neurons
Interesting study.. What’s interesting about the experiment is that those who read this right before the test actually cheated on the test much more than those who did not read it.
The conclusion was that people who read this and believed it, actually did decide that they weren’t in control and it didn’t matter what they did…and then the question became, were they predisposed to act that way based on reading something like this or did they even know that this sentence affected them in any way? Whoosh! They didn’t decide to cheat. They just did. But the study shows that they most likely would not have cheated, if they hadn’t read that.
Here something else to think about if that hasn’t already made your head hurt. The frontal lobe areas of the brain, especially the Orbito-frontal cortex is involved in self- control and behavioral inhibition. Basically it helps you not to yell at people at parties and jump up and down and holler if you meet a girl you like a lot. People who have damage to those areas of the brain no longer have control of some of their actions. They become much more uninhibited. So, does that mean that our choices to act certain ways are affected by food, chemicals, bruises, etc.? Well of course we all know the answer is yes but does that mean that our personalities are a physical thing and not a mental choice thing? That we only act the way we act because of stuff we can’t control at all?
Now to go one layer deeper. We like to feel good. We don’t like pain or feeling bad.
We sometimes don’t even know that we are doing something specifically so that we will feel good. (yet some say that is why we do EVERYTHING we do…to satisfy ourselves…consciously or subconsciously) By the way feeling good, emotionally, or psychologically, is usually simply a matter of little particles or chemicals inside our brains reacting a certain way because of where they go and what they attach to and how they reproduce by chemical reactions. So, back to the question. When we give gifts to people because we think we are being nice and altruistic, could it simply be we are doing that so that we get an extra shot of dopamine or because our oxytocin or serotonin levels go up?
Even when we “sacrifice” to make someone else have a good day, is it because we like the way we feel when we sacrifice cuz we feel good about ourselves? If that is true then the question pops up again. Are we really in control and making decisions or are we simply doing actions that result in our own chemical reaction needs?
Think about this. Even a dog has emotional forces directing its behavior. My dog learned from its culture, which includes me, that sitting or staying when I command it, results in getting a treat. He does it because there is an emotional payoff for doing so. And, interestingly enough, when the dog obeys and I give him a treat, then I FEEL the satisfaction of being a good dog owner and provider, and part of that is because my culture values kindness to pets and cool dogs who do cool things and it FEELS good to behave consistently with my culture’s values. There are cultures where none of this could happen because the values of all of the above aren’t values there. So my culture has totally controlled all of what I “think” and feel about what you just read. Does that mean I had no choice in any of that?
Here is one more thing to consider that will frustrate you even more. And remember….I’m just giving you thoughts to think about so don’t get mad at me if this stuff messes with your belief system. I am not making any statements about what I believe, (yet) just throwing out information that you can think about.
Ok last thought on this blog…
Some or perhaps most single celled organisms have no discernible “brain” area, yet calculate, learn, and choose…such learning as a group being necessary for acquiring resistance to antibiotics as one example.
Ok this got weird so I will leave you with a quote from William James here for an ending.
“My first act of free will shall be to believe in free will.”
Next blog…do you think what you think you think? Which is kind of like this one only different.
As you may know if you have been following, I’ve been studying thinking. How do we think? What is thinking? How can our thinking transform us, and our world.
